1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to electronic mail systems and, more particularly, the invention relates to a method, article of manufacture and apparatus for restricting the receipt of delegate reply messages.
2. Background of the Related Art
In today""s electronic mail (e-mail) environment, many users utilize a delegate reply feature while away on vacation or business. This delegate reply feature may automatically create and send a delegate reply message in response to a sent message. The delegate reply message notifies the sender that the user, i.e., the recipient of the sent message, is unavailable or not present, and generally provides a reason for their absence.
Although the delegate reply message is useful to the recipients of the sent message, the delegate reply message also contributes to extraneous messages or clutter to the sender. When the message is sent to a large audience, this cluttering problem is exacerbated if the recipients in the audience use the automatic delegate reply feature. In this situation, extra effort is required by the sender to clean up the delegate reply messages. As such, the large amount of delegate reply e-mail received would discourage the sender from sending messages to such a large audience.
Therefore, a need exists in the art for a method, article of manufacture and apparatus prevent this cluttering problem by restricting the receipt of delegate reply messages.
The invention provides a method, article of manufacture and apparatus for restricting the receipt of delegate reply messages. In one embodiment, the invention provides a method for restricting the receipt of delegate reply messages comprising configuring a control message for an electronic mail (e-mail) message addressed to at least one recipient terminal or computer, and sending the e-mail and control messages to the at least one recipient terminal. Upon processing the control message, the at least one recipient terminal determines whether to reply to the received e-mail message with a delegate reply message.
In another embodiment, the invention provides a method for deleting delegate reply messages comprising receiving an automatic delegate reply message provided in response to a sent electronic mail message to at least one recipient terminal, and deleting the opened delegate reply message.
The invention also provides an apparatus comprising a memory and a processing unit, where the apparatus is configured for restricting the receipt of delegate reply messages. The memory stores an electronic mail message and a delegate reply restriction routine. The processing unit executes the delegate reply restriction routine retrieved from the memory, configures a control message for an electronic mail message upon command from an input device, and sends the electronic mail and control messages to at least one recipient terminal. Upon processing the control message, the at least one recipient terminal determines whether to reply to the received e-mail message with a delegate reply message. In this manner, the apparatus restricts the receipt of automatic delegate reply messages.
Additionally, a computer readable medium storing a software program is provided, where the software program, when executed by a computer, causes the computer to perform a method. In one embodiment of the computer readable medium, the method comprises configuring a control message for an electronic mail message addressed to at least one recipient terminal, and sending the electronic mail and control messages to the at least one recipient terminal. Upon processing the control message, the at least one recipient terminal determines whether to reply to the received e-mail message with a delegate reply message.
In another embodiment of the computer readable medium, the method comprises receiving an automatic delegate reply message provided in response to a sent electronic mail message to at least one recipient terminal, and deleting the opened delegate reply message.